Artist's Comments

My wife, Betty's, brother had never seen the Ahwahnee Hotel before. This painting is from a trip we took to introduce him to the grand structure. We had lunch in the great dinning hall, with its two-story windows, each framing a classic view of Yosemite and doing its best to bring nature inside. Betty and were fortunate to stay at the hotel twice one winter. The owner of the animation studio, where I'd designed and directed for 12 years, Bob Kurtz's, daughter was getting married in the Yosemite Valley Chapel and he'd flown up a few days early, with his wife, Teresa. While we viewed my work and reminisced in my studio, it began to snow heavily. Bob had rented an SUV, but this was his first time behind the wheel of a 4-wheel drive. I was driving a Range Rover, at the time, so suggested I guide him in. Good thing I did, by the time we arrived in the valley, the storm was blowing horizontally and had covered all the directional signs. Long story short, we decided to check and see if the storm had left a vacancy at the Ahwahnee and avoid navigating the treacherous roads home, in the dark. It had. We took advantage of a similar situation a couple days later, the day of the wedding. The beauty of freshly fallen undisturbed snow in Yosemite Valley, in the morning, is indescribable. I kicked myself for having left my paints behind!